Top 10 Shockingly Rich Celebrities & Their Net Worth

Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is well-known for its lists, including articles on the richest Americans (the Forbes 400) and its list of billionaires. The company has discovered that people are interested in learning about the world’s richest celebrities. The curiosity has spawned a large collection of websites that are dedicated to documenting celebrity net worth. For example, former boxing champion Mike Tyson holds an estimated net worth of $3 million, while boxing promoter Don King is worth $150 million. This article will examine ten international celebrities that are shockingly rich. We have attempted to select individuals from many different fields, including musicians, designers, actors, producers, radio personalities, authors, comedians, sports figures, models, and directors.

10. Bryan Williams (Birdman)

Estimated Net Worth: $110 Million

Bryan Williams is the co-founder of Cash Money Records. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and has gone multi-platinum as both an artist and a producer. His label has helped craft albums for many artists including Lil Wayne and Juvenile. In 2000 Birdman was nominated for two Grammies for his song #1 Stunna, which he released with Mannie Fresh as part of the rap duo Big Tymers. To date, Cash Money Records is the most commercially successful label in the history of hip hop music with 50 million records sold and annual revenues in excess of $100 million. By the time Birdman was 22-years-old he had already amassed a net worth of $40 million. He owns a $30 million condo in Miami.

In the music industry, a large majority of the money is made by the record executives. This is why popular rappers usually expand and create their own labels. Let’s examine the net worth of some of the biggest names in music. Jay-Z is one of three founders of Roc-A-Fella records and Roc Nation. In 2007 he sold Rocaware clothing, which he co-founded, for $204 million. Jay-Z’s official net worth is $450 million, but when you account for his many sources of income the number is closer to $1 billion.

In 1993, Sean Combs founded Bad Boy Records. He has two successful clothing lines, Sean John and Sean by Sean Combs. In 2011, Forbes estimated Sean Combs net worth at $500 million, making him the richest figure in hip hop. Russell Simmons is a very successful American entrepreneur and co-founder of Def Jam. His personal net worth is reputed to be $500 million, officially reported at $325 million. Some other wealthy rapper/executives include Master P ($350 million), 50 Cent ($250 million), Dr. Dre ($180 million), Eminem ($115 million), and Snoop Dogg ($110 million).

Interesting Fact

Birdman claims that every 6 months he buys 100 new cars and gives away all the “old” ones. At any given time he is wearing millions of dollars worth of jewelry including a 15 carat black diamond ring, matching earrings, and a $500,000 grill on his teeth. He personally lost 20 houses and 50 cars including two Maybachs and four Ferraris during Hurricane Katrina.

9. Gisele Bündchen

Estimated Net Worth: $360 Million

Gisele Bündchen is a Brazilian fashion model. In the late 1990s, Bündchen became one of the first in a wave of Brazilian models to find success. She initially intended on making a career as a professional volleyball player, but her plans changed after being discovered by a modeling agency at the age of thirteen. In 1999, Vogue magazine dubbed her “The Return of the Sexy Model.” Bündchen has been hired as the face of many multi-million dollar fashion campaigns, including Versace, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Kors, Christian Dior, and Victoria’s Secret. Her non-apparel advertising campaigns include Nivea lotion, Credicard (Brazilian version of Citibank), Volkswagons do Brazil, Ebel (luxury Swiss watches), and Apple Inc.

As a model, Bündchen pioneered the “horse walk,” which is a stomping movement created when a model picks up her knees and kicks her feet out in front. Since 2004, Gisele has been the highest-paid model in the world. According to Forbes she may become the world’s first ever billionaire supermodel. For her efforts to preserve the rainforests and promote reforestation, Bündchen has been dubbed a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program. In August 2011, she ranked 60th on the Forbe’s List of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. She also ranked 3rd on the 20 Youngest Powerful Women of 2011 at age 31.

Interesting Fact

From 2000 to 2005, Bündchen was in a much-publicized relationship with American actor Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2009, she married New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Brady currently has a net worth of around $100 million.

8. Howard Stern

Howard Stern’s Estimated Net Worth: $600 Million

Howard Stern is an American radio personality best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. Stern gained wide recognition in the 1990s when he was labeled a “shock jock” for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style. In 2006, Stern signed a radio deal with Sirius XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service. In the deal he was given an annual budget of $100 million for all production costs, including staff and programming. On January 9, 2006, the day of his first broadcast, Stern and his agent received 34.3 million shares of stock from the company worth $218 million for exceeding subscriber targets.

A second stock incentive was paid to Howard in 2007, with Stern receiving 22 million shares of Sirius stock worth $82.9 million. In 2011, Stern was given the estimated net worth of $500 million. He holds an annual salary of $80 million. In December 2010, Howard signed a new contract with Sirius to continue his show for five more years. Following the agreement, Howard and his agent filed a lawsuit against Sirius on March 22, 2011, for allegedly failing to pay stock bonuses promised to them from the past four years while helping the company exceed subscriber growth targets. Some other wealthy radio personalities include Rush Limbaugh ($350 million), Ryan Seacrest ($125 million), and Glenn Beck ($85 million).

Interesting Fact

Howard Stern is currently the highest-paid radio figure in the United States. In regards to television talk show hosts, Oprah Winfrey is the queen with an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion. Some other successful hosts include David Letterman ($400 million), Simon Cowell ($320 million), Dr. Phil ($200 million), Jay Leno ($150 million), Larry King ($150 million), Tyra Banks ($90 million), Regis Philbin ($90 million), and Ellen DeGeneres ($85 million).

But it’s not all that shocking that Babs is worth millions, while I think the rest of the people on the list are surprisingly rich – like I had no idea Howard Stern was worth that much money. There are richer people than the ones on this list (Oprah, hello?) but I think the point is that these people are richer than we thought they were.

Yep. Jay Arr Henderson. You are absolutely right. That Heather Mills ex-wife of Sir Paul knew exactly what she was after. I hope that gold-digging, sycophant goes to you know where. And if she does go to heaven, she’ll have to battle with Sir Paul’s deceased first wife Linda. Now she was a great and loving woman. And she being the grand-daughter of George Eastman (The inventor of the Kodak Camera), she wasn’t exactly on skid row herself. God Bless Sir Paul.

Paul is worth $1billion dollars pre divorce with that leach Heather (long john silver) Mills,he could be alot richer for example he gets inundated with offers to be the face of this and that and always says no his wealth has come from music alone.
So on that note Paul McCartney/John Lennon have made the most cash from music and if they were to sell out which Yoko does for free Paul would be a multi billionaire,he went mad when Yoko pulled out of a bid to buy The Beatles catalogue at the last minute hence allowing MJ to buy it and start selling the songs to panasonic and cookie companies for adverts that decision alone from Yoko has easily cost Paul another $2 billion he would be the richest musician of alltime had he just went alone and bought the catalogue himself.He owns 4 Beatles songs,Love me do,please please me,she love’s you and 1 more i cant remember.
I really hope he gets a chance to buy his catalogue back can you imagine having to pay someone else everytime you sung a song you had wrote yourself???

Actually, that comment was made my John, not Paul. So John thought that all the commotion made about them when they hit the “Colonies” made it seem the folks thought them as if not more important than Jesus. Not that HE thought so…necessarily.

So let’s look at the tale of the tape and about Tom Brady. 1). Tom Brady is the best Quarterback in football (forget about this Peyton guy) on one of the best football teams in the past decade. 2). He practices throwing a ball (which is child’s play). 3). Works every Sunday for only 3 hours at best (he might get hit on a rare occasion only if his offensive line is on target . 4). Win or lose, he will retreat to his mansion and get Monday and Tuesday off (unless he is playing a Monday Night Game, then he will have Sunday off) and when its “beddy-bye” time he gets to share his bed with the most beautiful woman on earth, that being No. 9 on this list. What a rough life Tom Brady must have. And on another note, I was amazed as to how wealthy Julia Louis-Dreyfus is !! Is she single, I wonder ??

You really don’t understand the work that goes into football. He probably works like 12-14 hour days everyday including Sundays. Soooooo much work goes into football from daily practices, meetings and intense analysis of film (both of yourself and your opponents). Yes, he has an awesome life where he does what he loves for big bucks and has a hot wife, but he works way, way harder than most people.

Ha ha ha. Unbelievable. You think he just works for the three hours of game time? Wow. I’m shocked you would think that. What about all the behind the scenes work. It’s like saying that all it takes to be a professional bodybuilder is a few minutes flexing on stage.

This is kind of misleading. The numbers that you have here are from a source that lists how much money they’ve made over their career, not how much in liquid assets they have. You’d be surprised at how broke some of these celebrities are. #1 being a great example. This guy is spending over $10 mill on cars a year and just giving them away. Trust me, PR isn’t likely to tell the public what the accountants know.

Definitely not true, Birdman is also a major player in the narcotics game, he’s been buying expensive things for the last 10 years, and hasn’t stopped yet. This guy is worth way more than $100 million.

If you are making 45 million an year, a large portion(40%) of that is taken away as income tax. And a large portion is also spent by the celebrity right? Hence the net worth seems lesser than what the many years of annual earnings would add up to.

Man I wonder what its like to have so much money in the bank just sitting there? I know you have to deal with fake family, friends and other people trying to get your money or find reasons to take your money but to never have to worry about your bills and at that point literally nothing being out of your reach financially I wish I knew what that was like

@jd…how is it that you have this special knowledge of celebrity wealth managing skills and more accurate formulas than Forbes etc. for determining net worth guesstimates. It is interesting when someone says ” what people don’t know”… Maybe you do know something others do not. Odds are you don’t. I think you more likely read gossip columns and poorly vetted on line articles. and have an inflated sense of self worth. “Grossly inflated” Please stop making unfounded generalizations just to make yourself feel important.

some of these are grossly inflated, what people don’t know is that celebrities are terrible at managing money so even if they have a lot , misuse renders them bankrupt.

Really…it sounds as if you ingest a healthy dose of on vetted gossip columns. The only thing grossly inflated is your sense of self worth You make some pretty broad generalizations about celebrities and, their money managing skills. Aside from the few that were mishandled or became involved some overly self destructive behavior most celebrities do very well and are not bankrupt. Bankruptcy is actually quite rare among real celebrities…

And i’m losing sleep over my bad credit that won’t allow me to receive public housing. HELP ME SOMEBODY PLEASE!!! The mistakes of my youth are haunting me into homeless in my senior years. I could Really use a bailout in order to enjoy my later years in solitude. Just a fresh start to a near end. Clean up my credit, PLEASE!!! So i can go away quietly.

Quite a number of people I didn’t know are super rich: J.K Rowling: 1 billion dollars? WOW! I didn’t know authors could be this rich but Harry-Porter series is one of a kind and really addictive to read and Howard Stern? $500 million? whoa! I should become either a radio presenter or an author.

to everyone saying why wasnt so and so on the list eg beyonce, jay z etc. its called shockingly rich celebrities. as in you wouldnt expect them to be worth that much. everyone already knows beyonce and jay z and whoever else are rich thats why there not here so please shut up